Saturday, December 29, 2012

Colors, Colors, Colors - everywhere we look is color.
We are inundated in visuals 24/7 within technology.

Colors bright, Colors Vibrant, Colors unheard of, Color Color Color, on screens, in
photos, on-line magazines. You never know what the true color is until you buy it, in a
sample, a quart, a gallon. The paper color sheets samples, I have found convenience, yet not much help in the long run.

Everything matters, your lighting, what you are painting, if it is a wall the texture etc. If it is sample paint, not paper sample, it augments itself once applied, a no brainer. I do not know if this is fact or not, was once told that premixed and mixed by color choice sample paints
( created for sale) are not truly the actual paint that is for purchase.

That they are for short life duration, that they are lifeless, as they are weakened and not of any category. Not the same, as purchasing it, in a quart, gallon, none are true during application as a Flat, Satin, Shell etc, they are created for temporary use, for color only. Who am I to believe?

Everyone who I have met that works in paint departments, seem to offer a different said, no matter if it is a big box store, or an actual name brand paint store. I have found that many local Paint stores that offer samples, do not rotate their sampler stock.

I have purchased, sealed samplers to find them once home, dried, gummy, gooey and ucky inside. At 6.00+ a pop, not cool. I have purchased them from other stores where they make the actual sample for you, it is all dependent on who is behind the paint counter. End result may vary, human error is of the equation. If you find sample pots at your local paint store, hardware and you wish to purchase them, some tips below. Possibly they are not sold (by some) any longer, Paint seems never to have been so popular, as it is in the last few years, it changes vastly what each company offers.

Samples Shake them, hold it up to your ear, do you hear liquid? or do you hear sludge? Ask if you can open it first prior to buying - if it is sealed, ask if there is one that is open for you to view. If they will not open a sampler for you, offer a sorry no can do, show one that has been opened, it's their loss of sale. Or you can buy it and find it to be a crap shoot once home. Dust on the toppers, outside, is an indicator, that they are not a popular commodity sold by, or recommended by the Paint dept persons in that particular store. IE: no one is moderating the samples, no one rotating them, as they sit and gather dirt. It's a 50/50 chance that you will be able to use them, let alone find them the actual color and true meant to be consistency once opened.

If premixed Samples are showcased and recommended by the salesperson, they to take pride in what they are selling, chances are your taking home a product fresh, to be used as instructed, to offer you an actual sample of your color chosen. It does matter. I know. Again it's your dollars, time and effort.

If the sample is being made for you, ask the paint person to dab not only the top of the container, but the actual paper swatch. View it dried. Does it compare or does it disappear? Match or sorta match? If they give you an O'geeze response to go the distance, dabbing and drying, on the container and paper swatch. Um, they probably have a personal reason, for their reaction. Paint mixing not their Forte'. Filling in for Painter Bob, Painter Sally on their break or vacation. Too many people in line, that they feel the need to rush, tough Noogies, it's your time, money and effort, that is why your purchasing the paint, sample or not, in the first place. View the label they apply, is the color Name, number, printed on or left off ? does the printed information match the swatch you picked out?

I found that you have to ask for paint Stirrer's they are no longer a handed out given with paint purchase. Paint Can openers are no longer a freebie, you must buy them today at 90 percent of paint sellers, paint big box retailers. If they ask how many paint stirs do you need, easy answer " as many as you can give me" 3-4 is good for one gallon I have found. If you find yourself home at another time, paint purchase, to realize you are " Stir-less" you have stock, a clean stir for future use, is a smile not a sigh.

I have found that buying premixed samples from, Ben Moore, Pittsburgh Paints, Pratt and Lambert, the outer container clear, filtered but clear plastic is not always friend to what is inside, lesson learned. Glidden offers samples. The samples I have are brown bottles, not clear or filtered containers, there is something to this. It offers no light to affect the paint inside. Granted you cannot see the actual color inside, it though does offer a concept that makes sense. Think of a bottle of peroxide. I see online they are using white jars as samplers present or past? All my Glidden samples are in brown bottles.

The one thing about Glidden is they have a smaller range of colors, they are sealed. With the smaller range of colors it is practically no fail even so, your choosing without viewing the inside. I have purchased many Glidden samplers in the past. They may have changed since then. They did then offer a brush inside, as the glue we used as kids, rubber cement. The brush attached to the screw off top. The downfall that is of my own observation, the brush is fine, yet the paint runs, no matter how much you scrape off the brush. The brush inside, a great design. The drips, dribbling is a frustration, all could do without. The consistency of the sample paint to me, is a bit runny, more than should be allowed.

Is the actual Glidden paint purchased in a quart, gallon the same? I do not know the answer. I have to say the thinness of the samples was a deterrent, not to buy it in a gallon size. Everyone has an ideal, does not mean it is better or less than, it is of personal preference during use and the affect achieved in the end.

I have asked my local hardware for sample of Dutch Boy only to find they do not offer them. They offer a small container at a price tag, ah hem. The sample size, " Twist and Try" what I was shown, as this is an independently owned hardware store, maybe different at other stores. The sample, a Quart, 29 oz container. You really must want to sample a color if you purchase the Quart. Found a color that I thought, I could not live without trying. I believe the quart cost, sticker shock, 13.00, could have been more, I think I am still in shock. The young boy who sold it to me, to tell me, it is a temporary paint, not to be used on anything for duration. He telling the truth or? consequences may vary if I did use it on permanent surface. Never again. It was a waste of my dollars.

I do have gallons of Dutch Boy. I have found in my gallons that the consistency of the paint itself does not match, it varies, even so they are all the same, same everything, all are Semi-gloss. What I believe it is not the paint itself but the pigments added. The stronger the color, the consistency to vary. The colors chosen not of the Dutch Boy line, yet I had them made with Dutch Boy Semi Gloss. This too, choosing colors outside the Dutch Boy line? could be part of the inconsistency, I am not a chemist.

Each after opening, to vary quite a bit in consistency. The deepest color as in pigmented a deep blue green teal - to be the thinnest. It however is not a bad, as in runny as in dripping. It is thinner in texture. Which I have found on wood, it allows the wood grain to show. Heck if I know, possibly it is upon the human who mixed it. The real bummer is that the human who mixed it, did not put the name of the color I chose on the paint label. It is a nameless, code-less, semi-gloss. All the " gallons" I have purchased, the humans to mix them, the stories to be told, the paint once home to be a endless surprise, I am beginning to feel like this.

Shaken not stirred - Nameless Teal

A beautiful Color

Bought on a whim 2012

Will be Used 2013

Used on a project, that requires less than a gallon

Not trusting the "We can match any color"

The Carnival Ride Games of Paints not this year, finger's crossed

not the same is it

expectations do matter

as so do my dollars

As Your own Dollars do

Time, Effort, cost of paint $$, supplies, no matter the line, the colorchosen